Module for an automation device

ABSTRACT

There is described a module for an automation device with a plurality of adjacent modules, having a housing capsule that has at least one rear wall and two side walls and which is provided for housing electric components. There is also described an automation device having modules of said type. It is proposed that one of the side walls of the modules be embodied as being thermally conductive and that the other side wall be embodied as being thermally insulated. That will on the one hand result in improved heat dissipation for the modules and, on the other, will prevent the thermal coupling of adjacent modules of the automation device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority of European application No. 06018133.6 EP filed Aug. 30, 2006, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to a module for an automation device that consists of a plurality of adjacent modules, having a housing capsule that has at least one rear wall and two side walls and which is provided for housing electric components. The invention relates further to an automation device having modules of said type.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

An example of a module is known from Siemens' Catalog “ST 70 News 2006”, Section 3: “SIMATIC S7”. Located inside a housing capsule of the module is a printed circuit board fitted with electric and electronic components. Said components are cooled mainly through convection in a manner such that air flows through an opening on the underside of the housing capsule and across the components, then finally through an opening on the top side of the housing capsule, with the air that flows through the housing removing heat from the components. Said openings in the housing capsule below and above the components are problematic especially if the modules or automation device are/is employed in areas exposed to explosion hazards or in applications requiring a tight seal. Moreover, adjacent modules in the automation device heat each other, a factor that has to be considered during project work on the automation device and which, owing to the modular automation device's wide-ranging combination potential, makes such work difficult.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a module of the type cited in the introduction having improved heat dissipation. Further to be disclosed is an automation device having improved heat dissipation.

Said object is achieved in terms of the module by embodying one of the side walls as being thermally conductive and the other as being thermally insulated. Said object is achieved in terms of the automation device by means of the measures disclosed in the claims.

It is advantageous that the openings in the housing capsule below the electric and electronic components can be dispensed with and a closed structural form facilitated thereby. The side wall embodied as being thermally conductive is provided for dissipating heat from the module; the side wall embodied as being thermally insulated will prevent thermal coupling to an adjacent module of an assembled automation device. As thermal coupling of the modules is prevented, adjacent modules will not heat each other.

In an embodiment of the invention the thermally conductive side wall is embodied substantially as being u-shaped and/or as having the form of ribs, the effect of which is to enlarge the heat-releasing side-wall area.

In a further embodiment of the invention it is provided for the electric components of the module, for example a printed circuit board fitted with electronic components, to be thermally coupled to the thermally conductive side wall. The removal of heat from the module will be further improved thereby.

In an automation device having modules of said type wherein one module's thermally conductive side wall is in each case adjacent to another module's thermally insulated side wall, the respective thermally conductive side wall's rib height or, as the case may be, its width (chimney width) is matched to the respective module's heat loss. The rib height or, as the case may be, chimney width of modules losing less heat is embodied as being smaller than that of modules losing more heat, as a result of which modules with a low heat loss will, when modules are of equal width, have more space for functional elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention and its embodiments and advantages are explained in more detail below with the aid of the drawing in which an exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

FIG. 1 shows a modular automation device and

FIG. 2 shows cross-sections of thermally conductive side walls.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

Identified by the numeral 1 in FIG. 1 is a modular automation device that includes four modules 2, 3, 4, 5 of equal width. Further constituents of the automation device 1, for example communication means via which the modules are interconnected, or suitable hooking devices for attaching the modules to a support rail (not shown here), are of no significance to the invention and will not be elucidated in the following. The modules can of course be embodied as being of different width. It is, though, advantageous for visual or design reasons for the width of the modules to be made the same or having the same modularity (2×, 3× etc. width). The modules 2, 3, 4, 5 each have a thermally conductive u-shaped side wall 2 a, 3 a, 4 a, 5 a and each a thermally insulated side wall 2 b, 3 b, 4 b, 5 b, with in each case a thermally insulated side wall 2 b, 3 b, 4 b, 5 b of one module 2, 3, 4, 5 being adjacent to in each case a thermally conductive side wall 2 a, 3 a, 4 a, 5 a of a further module 2, 3, 4, 5.

It is assumed in the present example that the module 4 has a greater heat loss during control operations than the modules 2, 3, 5, meaning that more heat has to be removed from the module 4 than from the modules 2, 3, 5. The thermally conductive side wall 4 a of the module 4 is for that purpose embodied as being wider than the thermally conductive side walls 2 a, 3 a, 5 a of the modules 2, 3, 5. The width of the thermally insulated side walls 2 b, 3 b, 4 b, 5 b is the same for all the modules 2, 3, 4, 5, as a result of which the heat conditions on said walls are substantially identical. Heat is removed from the modules 2, 3, 4, 5 substantially through thermal convection. For that purpose air 6 flows through, for example, a “chimney” 7 formed by the thermally insulated side wall 3 b of the module 3 and by the thermally conductive side wall 4 a of the module 4 from a chimney inlet 8 to a chimney outlet 9, with the air 6 removing heat from the thermally conductive side wall 4 a of the module 4.

In order to enlarge the surface of a thermally conductive side wall, one side wall 10 (FIG. 2) is embodied at least partially as being rib-shaped and a further side wall 11 as wave-shaped. Measures of such type will enlarge the heat-releasing side-wall area, as a result of which the removal of heat from a module will be improved.

The described arrangements and embodiments of the modules will also yield advantages in terms of heat removal when that is done not through natural convection but through forced ventilation, for example in a manner such that ventilating is provided by means of ventilators located beneath the modules. 

1.-5. (canceled)
 6. A module for an automation device, comprising: a housing capsule with a rear wall a thermally conductive side wall and a thermally insulated side wall.
 7. The module as claimed in claim 6, wherein the automation device comprises a plurality of adjacent modules.
 8. The module as claimed in claim 7, wherein the housing capsule houses electric components.
 9. The module as claimed in claim 6, wherein the thermally conductive side wall has a u-shape.
 10. The module as claimed in claim 6, wherein the thermally conductive side wall has ribs.
 11. The module as claimed in claim 9, wherein the thermally conductive side wall has ribs.
 12. The module as claimed in claim 8, wherein the electric components are thermally coupled to the thermally conductive side wall.
 13. The module as claimed in claim 9, wherein the electric components are thermally coupled to the thermally conductive side wall.
 14. The module as claimed in claim 11, wherein the electric components are thermally coupled to the thermally conductive side wall.
 15. An automation device, comprising: a plurality of adjacent modules, wherein a module has a thermally conductive side wall and a thermally insulated side wall, wherein the thermally conductive side wall of a first module is adjacent to the thermally insulated side wall of a second module.
 16. The automation device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the first module has a housing capsule with a rear wall and the second module has a housing capsule with a rear wall.
 17. The automation device as claimed in claim 16, comprising a forced-ventilation.
 18. The automation device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the forced-ventilation is based on a ventilator.
 19. The automation device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the thermally conductive side wall has a chimney, wherein a width of the chimney of modules losing less heat is smaller than of modules losing more heat.
 20. The automation device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the thermally conductive side wall has a ribs, wherein a rib height of modules losing less heat is smaller than of modules losing more heat.
 21. The automation device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the thermally insulated side walls of different modules have a different width. 